Sunday, July 01, 2007

Coca

Called Coca it's Part pizza, Part open Tart. The pastry is made from a unleavened olive oil dough that has been flavoured with lemon, cumin seeds and thyme - it's then topped with the caramelised onions, roasted red peppers, anchovies, capers, and jamón thats set over a paprika and garlic infused tomato base.

If the ingredients aren't tempting enough then perhaps the pictures might do the trick.

Sift flour into bowl and stir through the lemon zest (if applicable), cumin seeds, thyme and salt. Make a small well in the centre and add the oil and water - mixing well to form a pliable dough. You may need to add extra water. Knead for a few minutes before forming the dough into a flattened ball - cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least one hour.Bake the Pastry:

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F.

Roll the dough out to form a large square or rectangle about 32cm/12 inches long. Trim the edges to fit your baking tray. As the dough is very thin and can rip, just use the offcuts to patch the dough.

Bake for about 8 minutes or until a light golden brown - remove and allow to cool slightly. Lower the temperature to 180°C/350°F.

Prepare the Topping:

Place the tomato paste, garlic, paprika and cayenne into a small bowl and stir well to combine.

Place the roasted red peppers/capsicums, capers and anchovies into a bowl and drizzle over with 1 tablespoon of reserved onion oil - toss well to coat.

Assemble the Coca:

Spread the tomato mixture over the base leaving a 5mm/¼ inch border. Top with the caramelised onions followed by the red pepper mixture. Finally roughly scatter over with the jamón/prosciutto.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the base is crisp and golden.

Cut into portions and serve.

If you'd like to add some cheese to this, then grated Manchego or crumbled goat's cheese would be the best match.

24 comments:

That base looks amazing! And the photos are indeed tempting! I will definitely give it a go! I would leave the anchovies and Proscuitto off and add feta, I think, but only because I am vegetarian. Yum!

Thanks Holler - I am really impressed by the pastry because the olive oil it is so wonderfully crisp and a real pleasure to knead and tasty on it's own. You'd be more than happy with a veg only version.

Haalo - As great as the topping sounds (I'm not one of those who shies away from a judicious usage of anchovies), I have to say in this case that I would just stop at the dough. I have never heard of this combination of ingredients for a dough before, and I have a weakness for cumin (that and sumac are my favourite spices). Really, I'd just have the dough. Thanks for posting this as I'm keen to try it really soon...maybe half the pizza will have a topping, just for Eric.

A meal is only as good as the ingredients that make it, and you've started with some great stuff here, Haalo. I think I could be persuaded to crumble a little goat's cheese, or maybe even some melted blue cheese like roquefort to add even more gooey richness

Haalo, that looks and sounds amazing. I've never had anything like that. I think I will try making it without Proscuitto (i don't eat prok) and add crubbed feta like you suggested. Thanks for this and also the spanish onion recipe.

Hi Haalo - JL here - chuffed you are enjoying the book - 2 recipes from it in a week - not bad! Just to give you some background the base can either be thin and crispy like this or leavened with a little yeast. There are sweet and savoury versions and while the base for this is not traditional in flavourings ( my addition using the flavours of the spanish islands where it hails from/moorish influence) the topping does in fact use common ingredients and is also traditionally a little sweet hence the caramelised onions. Olives would be fine if you don't like anchovies - just don't overdo it and make sure they are good quality meaty ones. The Spanish green variety stuffed with anchovies might be a good choice for those who like both ingredients - and they don't taste strongly of anchovy. I look forward to seeing what else you choose to test from my book. Your pics are great by the way! Thanks for putting a smile on my face - nice to see people enjoying something that has a lot of heart and energy put into it. cheers, J

Gosh Jane, I'm the one that has to thank you for writing such a great book - I've had a great time going through it from cover to cover, the dishes are just so full of flavour but are also really accessible. The only trouble is trying to decide what to cook because it all looks so tasty! If I can get hold of baby squid I'm eager to try the sweet onion and lentil recipe, then again there's that luscious potato and anchovy gratin or maybe even the fennel and apple compote. Thanks also for all the extra information on the Coca - I know Whiskymarie wants to set up a shrine to the pastry gods for it. I must also add that it's such a great pleasure that you've taken the time to comment it really is a fabulous thing for you to do. Thank you!

Hi Again Haalo, thanks so much for your lovely comments. I can't tell you how wonderful it was eating my way around spain gathering ideas... a tough job but someone has to do it! I did use a fair bit of artistic licence of course but that is the way of Spanish cuisine these days so I didn't feel I was corrupting things too much! While I am very close to all the books I have written - this one was probably the most enjoyable research wize. Having said that I am currently working on a newbie for which I had to do a LOT of foodie travel and can't wait to see how that turns out. If the photographic team do anywhere near as fabulous a job as they did on cocina I will be a very happy girl!Take care and keep up the fantastic work on your site - where do you find the time??!cheers, jl

Thanks Jane - I think the pleasure is evident in every page, it truly is a fantastic book and I do look forward to seeing the next one hit the shelves. With the blog its a labour of love and it really has given me so much back I consider myself very lucky.